Hanauma Bay

This morning we woke up at 5:30am to ride with our friend Karen to Hanauma Bay. Hanauma Bay is the busiest beach on the island. Why?

Fish. It is a huge snorkeling area.

Our local friend, Karen, offered to take us on a personal tour. Her specialty: finding octopus.

Bonus: if you arrive in Hanauma Bay before 6:30am then you don’t have to pay for parking or $7.50 per person to be in the Nature Preserve.

When we arrived and got situated on the beach, Hubs went out first. During this first dive they spotted one sea turtle and two octopuses. Yes, they were in the water before the sun was up.

Meanwhile, the kids and I…

Snuggled on the beach.

Enjoyed some milk.

Transformed Schäfer into a sea turtle.

Watched the kids laugh.

Schäfer so desperately wanted his own set of fins, but we couldn’t find any small enough. Don’t worry. Even the shallow waters of Hanauma Bay have fish so Schäfer was able to see a few.

Today also celebrates 6 months with Sianna!

Sianna spent most of the morning moving rocks in and out of the bucket.
In and out.
In and out.
Load them in.
Take them out.

I’m doing my best to get her to wear a hat. My best isn’t good enough. She usually takes it right off. But then again, so did Schäfer when he was her age.

Our attempt at a family photo. Ha! This may be the only time I’ve ever been taller than Hubs.

Thank you Karen for sharing your passion for creation with us!

Sianna allowed Karen to hold her for a bit while I gathered our stuff.

The kids were quite smitten with Karen. (She won their love two days earlier when she gave them each an octopus.)

Just as we were leaving the beach, the lifeguard made an announcement over his bullhorn. Concerned, I silenced the kids so I could hear what was wrong. “Attention! Attention! If you look out in the water you will see The Black Pearl. They are filming the next Pirates of the Caribbean.” And I was concerned that someone was drowning.

We left the bay about 10:30am and it was getting crowded. Karen is normally there at 5:30am and gone by 8:30am, but she was generous and allowed the kids to play in the sand. Hubs said the second time he went out in the water it was less clear because all the swimmers were stirring up the sand.

I love to snorkel, but had problems getting comfortable breathing with the snorkel. At 5 months pregnant, I’m breathing much  deeper, longer and slower. This morning, I gave the snorkel a good try, but decided it wasn’t worth getting stressed out about so I stayed with the kids.  Not being able to go to the deeper water did not take anything away from my enjoyment of the morning or this beautiful spot of creation.

Busy Hanauma Bay.

The kids did not want to leave. Oh no. They were not tired at all.

We got back to the guest flat in time for the kids to have lunch and nap on time! Sianna took her full 3 hour nap. Schäfer played and didn’t go down until nearly 3pm. Sigh.

When they got up, we read all the ocean books that we brought.

Sianna doesn’t yet enjoy the same books as Schäfer, but she does like to snuggle up and look at her board books while Schäfer and I read longer stories. Of course, there are moments, when she tosses her board books aside, crawls over my legs and tries to turn the pages of Schäfer’s book. Good times.

After reading, we went for a nice walk up to the gates of the National Cemetery of the Pacific. Alas, we arrived at 6:30pm when the gates were closing. We enjoyed a small nearby park and got some great sunset shots of Honolulu city.

Honolulu.

Honolulu.

Hubs enjoys the view of Honolulu with Diamond Head in the background.

Sianna at 14 months.

Schäfer at 3.5 years.

Before we realized it, the time had come to head back for baked potatoes, bath, books and bed.

Today was a good day.

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